Marron's Tale
by Raidne
Summary: Marron writes her own version of Cinderella and she uses her friends and family for inspiration. Marron/?
1. Writer's Block

Disclaimer: Dragonball/Z/GT belong to Akira Toriyama. I am using the characters without permission and am making no money from this piece of amateur fiction.

Author's Notes: I have so many stories started on FF.net and others on discs not yet posted that I should be working but noooo I have to go and start something brand new. I hope you guys enjoy the first installment of Marron's Tale. I felt like doing something different from the usual fairy tale parody so I hope this turned out ok.

I just wanted to make one thing clear before you start yelling at me for being mean to Trunks. I don't hate the guy, really. *Mutters to self* He's just such an easy target.

Remember to review and I accept constructive criticism. Flames will be laughed at.

Marron's Tale

Raidne the Silent Siren

Chapter 1

Marron sat in her desk chair staring blankly at the monitor of her computer. Her chin was propped on her fists while her elbows rested on her desk.

"I hate you," she muttered to her computer. Her word processing program was open and glaringly blank.

Her English professor had assigned a creative writing project after they had discussed some of the history surrounding folk tales and fairy tales. Now she was supposed to add a new twist on a well-known fairy tale. Surprise. Surprise. She had writer's block. She had no idea anything could be this annoying.

Her eyes wondered around her room in search of inspiration. They settled on a picture of Trunks sitting among several group photos of her and her friends. She had been wrong. There was something more annoying than writer's block. She let her eyes linger over the pictures. There was one group shot with her, Pan, and Bra goofing off at the mall. There was another one with Trunks, Goten, and Uub hanging out at the beach together. One had Bra and Uub together and there was one with Pan in a fighting pose glaring at the camera. She began to get an idea. She shouldn't. She really shouldn't. Her eyes turned back to the blank monitor. She began to grin slowly.

"What they don't know won't hurt them," she said to herself. As she readied herself to type she added mentally, 'Or me.'

Marron placed her fingers over the keys and began to type…

Cindermarron

Marron was a beautiful girl with long blonde hair and clear blue eyes. After the death of her father she had been left in the care of her stepmother Chichi. There were rumors that Lord Krillen had died just to escape her. No one knew anything about Marron's own mother. All that the servants knew was that one day he had come back from a long trip and had brought with him a small blonde baby girl wrapped in a blanket. A marriage with Lady Chichi was arranged immediately afterwards by his uncle.

If the marriage was supposed to be an easy way to explain her birth it failed horribly. Both her father and stepmother had black hair and eyes while Marron had blonde hair and pale blue eyes. Whenever her father had been questioned about her real mother he would never tell. The whole affair was surrounded with rumors and intrigue. Despite this her father had loved her unconditionally.

Marron wasn't the only child in the house though. When her father and stepmother were married she had been a widow. It was for this reason that many people thought she had become such a shrew, because she still mourned her late husband. When she had moved into the manor she had brought her own daughter with her. Marron hadn't had any real problems with the girl except they just hadn't had anything in common. There was only a couple of months difference in their ages but they were very different girls.

After the death of her father, Marron left the room she had been sharing with Pan, not voluntarily in _either _case. She ended up sleeping in one of the rooms that had fallen into disrepair on the first floor. She kept her bedroll close to the wood stove for heat. After a few weeks of walking around with cinders in her hair and clothes, Pan took to calling her Cindermarron and the nickname, unfortunately, stuck. There were times when she was sure that she was the only one left in the house who remembered it wasn't her real name and she wanted to scream in frustration every time she heard it. She never could speak out though no matter how much she yearned to tell off both her stepmother and stepsister. She was nothing more than the bastard child of the late lord. She was lucky in many ways that she hadn't been kicked out the day of the funeral. Hell, she was lucky she hadn't been out on the streets when his death was confirmed.

So our story begins with Marron sitting in her room with Pan's dress in her lap and a needle between her fingers. There were very few times in her life where she could agree with her stepmother on anything but this morning had come very close to being one.

Marron let the memory replay in mind. Pan stood in the front door in a dress that had ripped seams and torn sleeves. She stood defiantly in front of her mother and waited stubbornly. Anyone who had been looking carefully, like Marron was, would notice that the stubborn eyes of the girl did not quite meet those of her mother and were staring somewhere around the region of her chin.

"Can't you be more careful with your clothes" Chichi shrieked, "and how many times have I told you to be more ladylike?! You're a young woman now! How do you expect to find a husband if you continue like this?"

Marron stood nearby sweeping the floor. Since she had her back turned to the two combatants she felt secure in mouthing the words to the often-heard tirade. She was so damn sick of hearing this! She was nearing the point where she was considering posting flyers next time she went to get groceries in town advertising Pan to any prospective husbands in the area. If Pan got married and moved out it would be one less person to clean up after. The richer the guy the better, because then the chances of getting rid of Chichi also went up.

"…Now Marron is going to have to mend that dress!"

Marron's head whipped up when she heard that. 'Ah crap.' She wasn't surprised but couldn't the dress be deemed unsalvageable? It was much easier tossing the thing out than trying to fix it.

Marron sat with the dress in her lap mending the tears and wishing with every stab of the needle that she could strangle Pan with the dress. Her bitter? _Noooo_.

'They make me so mad!' She started sewing quicker and quicker. In her hurry she pricked her finger with the needle. She hissed in pain and stuck the finger in her mouth. 'This is my life, ladies and gentlemen. I'm a servant in my late father's house to his wife and stepdaughter. This is my life.'

**********

"It's my life!" Trunks shouted. His two best friends just stared at him and waited for him to finish. He had been like this for an hour now and was finally beginning run down. They knew they were only sitting through this because he didn't have the guts to tell his father what he really thought about his decisions in regards to his children. It was not a good idea to make the king angry with you. So the prince ranted as he paced back and forth already started to wear a path into his expensive and meticulously sewn rug and not once did he consider the amount of work that had been put into its creation since he could easily afford a new one.

"How could he do this??" Trunks continued to complain.

"Because he's the king and you're to scared to stand up to him," Goten supplied.

"I hadn't wanted an answer."

"Then why did you ask?"

"I think we're getting off the subject," Uub interrupted.

Trunks stopped pacing and flopped down onto a chair. "I can't believe Father is going to throw a ball just so he can marry me off."

"Look at it this way, you are going to have every single, noble girl in the country all in one place, for the soul purpose of making a good impression, at the _least_, on you."

Trunks looked thoughtful for a moment before breaking out into a smirk that was worthy of King Vegeta himself. "Goten you are genius."

"Of course."

"So are you two going to come and keep the leftovers company?"

**********

Princess Bra snuck back into her bedchamber after listening at her brother's door. She hadn't been present when her father had announced his decision concerning her brother and she had been on her way to confirm it when she had heard the voices behind Trunks' door. She had been hoping to get some dirt on him but hadn't had much luck. All that her spying session really did was confirm that her brother was the idiot and wimp she thought he was.

Well, maybe the night wouldn't be a total waste. Her eyes grew a little dreamy as she thought of a certain young man who was presently in the company of her brother. Uub. Her face took on a look that said she was planning something. Her father would never let her marry a prince from another country because that would mean combining the two lands and he would _never _allow that. Uub and Goten were both sons of wealthy noble lords. There was a very good possibility that her father might start interviewing possible future husbands for her among the sons of his wealthier and most loyal vassals. This could work in her favor if she planned it right.

Uub and Bra had been seeing each other in secret for months now but hadn't dared make mention of it to her father yet. He was staying in a bad mood with the disobedience of her older brother and thought it would be best to mention it when he was in a good mood, well as good a mood as he ever got in. Bra knew that her mother already suspected that she was in love but she didn't know if Bulma knew whom yet. The fact that only her mother had any idea at all was a compliment to both of their abilities. Queen Bulma had always been intelligent and resourceful and had passed these qualities onto her daughter; Bra was convinced that it had skipped over her brother.

Bra collapsed on her bed with a plan firmly in mind. If her brother got off of his ass and got married she could talk to her father about letting her marry Uub. It was unlikely that he would turn her down with Trunks out of the way. Hell, after having to drag Trunks down the aisle, like he most likely would, he would probably be thrilled that he didn't have to go through a repeat.

…Marron leaned back in her chair after saving the night's work. 'I need to be careful writing this or Bra may still my thunder.' She had to put Bra in otherwise when the girl found out about the story she would never hear the end of it. She would find out about it of course. Marron wouldn't tell her but somehow Bra tended to find out everyone's little embarrassing secrets. She usually only used her skills for good, otherwise known as Trunks torture, but better safe than sorry.

Looking at the clock, she saw that it was already past midnight and she had classes in the next morning. This was enough for one night. She shut down her computer and went to bed.


	2. The Invitation

Disclaimer: Dragonball/Z/GT belong to Akira Toriyama. I am using the characters without permission and am making no money from this piece of amateur fiction.

Author's Notes: This thing is so fun to write. Like my other fic Tomorrow Never Knows I originally planned on getting this thing done in just a couple of chapters but now it looks like it's going to be around for a while. I just keep getting more and more ideas.

Also I've recently gone through some of my old fics that I never bothered to post and after reading most of what I've done so far I'm forced to cringe. One or two might be deemed salvageable though. If I decide to revise and finish them you're going to have to wait to read them because I want to finish either this or Tomorrow Never Knows by then. At least that's the plan.

aqua-illusion-Thanks so much for reading my fic! You're the first reviewer! As to who is Marron going to end up with…well… *walks away whistling to herself*

Shadow Phenix-*hands the Chibi Frieza a snow cone* Out of all the characters I seem to be supporting at the moment he is probably the most polite. Should that worry me?

The next chapter is out so you can put away the bat now. *holding a black and blue flame painted hockey stick behind her back* I'm looking forward to the next chapter of Simply Irresistible. Just so you know I decided against the pitchfork.

Marron's Tale

Raidne the Silent Siren

Chapter 2

Marron dropped her books on her bed as she released a tired puff of air. She brushed some blonde hair that had escaped her ponytail back with her fingers as she straightened from dropping the load of books. She stretched and heard more than one or two pops and cracks. 'Damn that feels good,' she thought as she relaxed.

She rocked her head back and forth on her neck as she walked over to her desk. She bent enough at the waist to turn on the power and went downstairs to get a soda while the computer booted up. Now that she seemed to have an idea for her story her writer's block seemed to have completely broken. Between classes she had scribbled notes to herself of any ideas she had gotten while she was supposed to have been taking notes on the lectures.

When Marron came back with a cold root beer in hand the computer was ready and waiting. The pile of books and homework were still there. She tried not to think of those just yet. She wouldn't really be able to concentrate on them anyway if she were still mentally working on her story.

Sitting down in the chair in front of her computer she set down her drink and pulled up what she had typed so far. Hmm. She liked what she had but she needed to get back to her heroine before the entire thing became about the sibling rivalry of the royal family.

…..

Marron was in the kitchen when she thought she heard the approach of horses. She stayed where she was. It was most likely some acquaintance of Chichi's and her stepmother made a habit of letting all of her so called friends know that Marron was 'not hers' and 'just another servant'. Chichi would get the door and most likely complain after they left about her rude manners. The lady of the house should never have to answer her own door after all. 'Technically I'm the lady of the house and not that bitch.' Her eyes narrowed dangerously on the potato she was peeling.

The steady knocking of someone at the door echoed throughout the house. It continued as the door remained unanswered.

"Cindermarron," a voice from upstairs came down the stairs in a singsong manner, "Mother says to get the door!"

Marron frowned to herself as she wiped her hands clean on her apron. She wore the uniform of a servant: plain brown dress that lacked _any _form of decoration except an apron. She also wore a kerchief on her head to keep hair out of her face while she worked.

She went through the halls and glared at the door that she was approaching. If she had to deal with one more of Chichi's friends looking down their hooked inbred noses at her one more time…well it certainly wouldn't be pretty. She'd most likely have to clean up after it though.

When she reached the door she took a moment to calm herself so she wouldn't be giving the look of a thousand deaths to whoever happened to be on the other side. Marron opened the door and looked inquiringly at the man on the other side. He was youngish with long blond hair and blue eyes. He wore the uniform of a royal messenger. She raised an eyebrow in surprise. 'What would a royal messenger be doing here?' Chichi and Pan were nobility but they weren't that high up!

The man looked at her in distaste. She already didn't like him. Too bad for him since she was standing between him and getting in the house.

"I'm here on behalf of the king and would like to speak with the head of the household," he said in a haughty tone. He had pulled himself up to his full height and must have been trying to intimidate her in some way but she wasn't buying it. He may work for royalty but he wasn't that much higher than the average servant.

"I'll fetch them then," she said politely. He made a move to enter but she closed the door in his face. If she got in trouble she could always claim she didn't recognize the uniform. People tended to underestimate the intelligence of the average servant.

She walked up the stairs, not bothering to hurry her step, and tried to decide if she should go to the office at the end of the hall or go to the bedroom where she knew Chichi was. If she went to the office she could make that snob wait a while longer but if she did that he would most likely start getting in the mood to complain and that would just make things worse for her. Marron knocked on the bedroom door.

"Enter."

Marron walked in and took in the scene in front of her. Chichi had Pan walking across the floor while trying to balance a book on her head. She tried to fight back a chuckle at the intense expression of concentration on the girl's face. The heavy thud of the book on the wooden floor covered up any sounds that Marron could have made. Chichi looked exasperated.

"What is it?" Chichi asked sounding tired.

"There's a messenger at the door," Marron answered, leaving out the rest of his title just in case she was going to have to feign ignorance.

"What does he want?"

"He wouldn't say. He just said that he wanted to speak with the head of the household." Marron watched Pan pick up the book and set on the table quietly, apparently hoping that her mother had forgotten about her.

"All right." Chichi waved both of them out of the room as she left.

Marron led them back down to the entry hall and opened the door once more for the messenger. She watched Chichi's surprise at the sight of the uniform before it was immediately covered up and the flash of annoyance in the messenger's eyes as he saw Marron again. He quickly turned to Chichi and Pan and turned on the charm.

He made a sweeping bow to the ground and said in a practiced voice, "Messenger Sharpner at your service. I am here to deliver a message to every noble family and announce that the Prince will be throwing a ball. At the ball he will pick a bride among the prospective ladies." He threw a wink in Pan's direction, "I can see that the other girls will have their work cut out for them." Pan started at the flirting but didn't blush, as he must have expected if the drop in his smile was any indication.

"A bride?!" Chichi exclaimed in surprise. Her eyebrows had soared up to her hairline. She immediately recovered and took on a determined look. "When?"

"The night after next madam," Sharpner said with a flirtatious smile that was once again ignored. He was beginning to look offended.

"Isn't that a little soon?" Marron blurted out in surprise. She was glared back into silence by Chichi and Sharpner.

"Two days doesn't leave us much time," Chichi said as she glared at Sharpner as though this was his fault.

He faltered under her glare and cleared his throat. Obviously this wasn't going the way he had expected it to. "The king set the date milady." He began to slowly edge towards the door. Any fool could see that Chichi was ready to blow. Marron had already eased herself into the background. If Chichi said anything particularly rude about the king it would be viewed as treason and she didn't want it to appear that she was involved when Sharpner squealed. He struck her as a brown noser so he most likely would.

Chichi must have had more control over her temper than she normally did because she had the presence of mind to dismiss Sharpner before she exploded. Sharpner scurried out of the mansion quickly. He was lucky.

"The king obviously has no idea how much work it takes to get ready for a ball under normal circumstances! Pan get upstairs now! We have work to do!" Pan ran back up to her bedroom to start searching for a dress. Chichi was muttering choice words about the king as she left after her daughter. Marron stayed out of sight until they were gone. She didn't want to get roped into helping.

When she was sure she wasn't about to be called upstairs to help Pan into her corset she started back into the kitchen to finish dinner. A knock on the door stopped her immediately. She frowned and went back to the door. What now? Opening the door she saw the Sharpner. He didn't look pleased to be knocking on their door again.

Marron just looked at him and waited for him to state his business.

He cleared his throat for a moment before speaking. "I forgot to give this to the mistress of the house." He handed her an envelope and turned to leave.

Marron closed the door and turned the envelope over in her hands. There wasn't anything written on the outside and she turned the flawless envelope over to open it. Inside was the invitation to the ball. She ran her fingers over the raised gold letters as she read them. It said as much as the messenger had told them already. There was to be a ball to help the prince decide on his future wife and went on to name the time and place. It also said that all single women of the noble families were invited. Marron raised an eyebrow in thought. Technically this applied to her also. Her father had been a noble and she was the last of his line. It wasn't her fault that her stepmother was a bitch.

She sat the invitation on the table next to the door for Chichi to find when she came back down. She went back to the kitchen thinking over this new piece of information.

The next night Marron lay in front of the wood stove in what constituted as her room. Chichi had been on the warpath while trying to get Pan ready for the ball. She was determined to be the mother of the future queen. Marron kept her doubts to herself.

That day they had gone into town to search for a dress for Pan and had barely avoided death by corset to get it. It seemed like every single woman in the country had descended onto the shops and booths at the same time to find the perfect dress or adornment. For once Marron had been glad to be considered no more than a servant for it saved her from having to join in the melee. The mothers had been worse than most of the girls. She was embarrassed on some of the girls' behalves when she had seen Chichi fighting off two other mothers for a jeweled hairpiece.

In Marron's mind Pan didn't stand a chance of winning over the prince but if she were lucky maybe she could snag one of the young nobles that would be there. There probably would be some young men there that had gone to try and defend the honor of their nieces, sisters, or cousins if they were needed. Marron was hoping that Pan would meet someone while she was there. She was already looking forward to the ball as a way of getting the manor to herself for a night so she wouldn't have to clean up after anyone. If Pan got married off it would be like an extended vacation.

She brushed back some of her blonde hair and curled up closer to the warmth that the stove gave off. She was no longer entertaining thoughts of crashing the ball. There was no way she would be able to manage it. First she didn't have a thing to wear. She couldn't take any of Pan's things because none of them would fit and she didn't have the time to make alterations. She also didn't have the money needed to buy something new or even used. She also had no way of getting there. If she tried walking by the time she got there it would have been over and the new queen would already be on her throne. That was also assuming she wasn't attacked on the way there.

'What would I do at a ball anyway?' she asked herself as she pulled her arms up and under her head. She had no designs on the throne and wasn't looking for a husband. It would have been nice though to get out of the house though and for reasons that had nothing to do with running errands. Plus she feared that Chichi's…uh…abrasive personality would scare off potential husbands for Pan. If she was there she could steer men in Pan's direction when her mother wasn't looking. Had she mentioned how much she wanted them out of the house?

She closed her eyes and tried not to let her mind dwell on things for too long. She needed her sleep and it promised to be another hectic day when the sun rose in the morning.

…Marron sat back from her computer and stretched her arms out and over her head. She reached down to save what she had added as she considered proofreading what was already done. A slight turn of her head brought her pile of books and homework back to her attention. She would have to proofread and start editing later. After she closed the writing program she got up and threw away the empty soda can. Her stomach growled. That made sense she had been working for a few hours. She glanced at the pile of work on her bed and for a moment could have sworn that it had grown since the last time she had looked at it. Her stomach growled again. She'd get a quick snack before doing her homework. With that she went downstairs.


End file.
